Raj Center In the News: The Demonetization Debate

Tue, 2017-01-24

In
two columns, one in the Times of India, and the other in MINT, Raj Center
Director Professor Bhagwati and Deputy Director, Professor Pravin Krishna,
along with their co-authors, Professors Suresh Sundaresan and Vivek Dehejia,
discuss the costs and benefits of the recent “demonetization” reform undertaken
by the Indian Government.

In
their Times of India article (link here),
co-authored with Professor Suresh Sundaresan, they argue that the reform was a
“bold and courageous move” with significant potential for long term benefit. In
their MINT article (link here)
co-authored with Professor Vivek Dehejia, they argue that analysts need to
carefully dissect the many fallacies regarding demonetization that abound in
the public discourse and pay attention to the distinction between the effects
of demonetization on the stocks and flows of black money in evaluating this
policy.

Professor
Jagdish Bhagwati was interviewed by Barkha Dutt for NDTV (link here)
and by Rajdeep Sardesai on India Today TV (link here)
for his views on the demonetization debate. Along with Professor Padma Desai, he also met
with PM Modi to discuss Indian policy matters.

Professor
Krishna was invited for a special meeting of “outside” experts with PM Modi,
Cabinet Minister Arvind Panagariya and senior members of the Indian bureaucracy
(link here)
and (link here)
to discuss Indian policy priorities in advance of the budget.

The Deepak and Neera Raj Center for Indian Economic Policies hosted the "Conference on the Indian Economy: A Festschrift in Honor of Arvind Panagariya" on October 28, 2017 at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). The conference...